November 14, 2012: The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission will next month strengthen regulations on advertising, particularly on cable and satellite TV, operating licences for which will be awarded by the NBTC.

“Cable and satellite TV operators must comply with the NBTC’s regulations on content and TV commercials after getting an operating licence,” Supinya Klangnarong, who sits on the watchdog’s subcommittee for consumer protection, said |yesterday.

As the NBTC has received a number of complaints about false advertising, particularly related to pharmaceutical products, aired on cable and satellite TV channels, Supinya said the commission would work more closely with the Food and Drug Administration and the Office of the Consumer Protection Board to reinforce health regulations.

Currently there are about 1,000 cable and satellite TV operators nationwide. Existing operators must file licence applications by tomorrow, while there is no deadline for newcomers.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/NBTC-TO-tighten-ad-rules-on-cable-satellite-TV-30194253.html

November 7, 2012 – ESPN in India and Dish TV are locked in a bitter dispute over signal use with ESPN threatening to withdraw its signal to Dish TV as reported by Hindustan Times.

ESPN has been accusing DISH TV of unauthorized use of its signals. It has threatened to deactivate three popular sports channels, ESPN, Star Sports and Star Cricket in 21 days, saying there has been no agreement between the two on the disputed issues.

Read more at Media Mughals

14 November, 2012 – Global online advertising revenues will reach $143 billion in 2017, according to a new report from Digital TV Research. The Online Advertising Forecasts report estimates that the 2017 total is more than double the $66 billion recorded in 2010 and considerably up from the $92 billion predicted for 2012.

The US will remain the dominant territory for online advertising expenditure. Its share of online advertising revenues stay at 40% of the global total, although its online ad spend will grow from $26,040 million in 2010 to $58,133 million in 2017. The UK will retain second place, recording $11,724 million in 2017. China will overtake Japan to take third place in 2014. China’s online advertising revenues will grow from $2,600 million in 2010 to $10,808 million in 2017.

Read more at Digital TV Research

9/11/2012: Regional – As News Corp completes the acquisition of Disney’s 50% stake in the ESPN STAR Sports, the media group will stop using the ESPN brand in most Asia markets from next year.

News Corp was unable to comment the move, but it is widely understood that the Fox Sports brand will replace ESPN in most Asia markets.

But before that major move takes place, News Corp has kick started the task of integrating Disney’s 50% share of ESPN STAR Sports into the Fox International Channels Asian business.

In the coming months, all ESS teams, excluding India, will be fully integrated into FIC Asia, effectively becoming the sports division of FIC Asia. ESPN STAR Sports India will be integrated into Star India.

The process of integration is likely to take six to 12 months.

After the dust settles, News is widely tipped to up the ante on its sports properties across the region with more channels, more HD, more non-linear and more local productions.

The moves in Asia also mirror similar moves around the world, particularly for Fox Sports US, Sky Sports in UK, Germany, Italy and Fox Sports Australia.

http://www.marketing-interactive.com/news/36607

04/11/2012: VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam Cable Television and Electronics Joint Stock Company (CEC), which faces big difficulties in investment, has decided to sell 51percent of its stakes to Vietnam Cable Television (VCTV) to get money to pay bank debts.

CEC, whose the big guy VTC (the Vietnam Multimedia Corporation), and a major shareholder–has released a document informing that the management and operation of the CEC’s cable television network would be transferred to VCTV, a subsidiary of the Vietnam National Television.

The document says that from November 1, 2012, CEC’s subscribers would enjoy VTCV’s services, provided that CEC’s subscribers agree to sign new contracts with VCTV.

The new service provider would apply its pricing policy to CEC’s subscribers from December 1, 2012 (110,000 dong a month for the first TV, and 33,000 dong for the second and subsequent TVs). Meanwhile, the subscription fee for November (from November 1, 2012, to November 30, 2012) would remain unchanged at 77,000 dong.

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/science-it/51665/vtv-takes-over-vtc-s-cable-tv-company.html

03-11-2012: Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp boosted its share of Australia’s pay-TV market after shareholders in Consolidated Media Holdings voted in favour of a A$2bn (£1.3bn) takeover offer from News Corp.

Reuters reports that the deal will double the stake of News Corp’s Australian arm in dominant pay-TV operator Foxtel to 50% and give it 100% of content provider Fox Sports, increasing its pay-TV exposure at the same time as it cuts costs at its print operations.

Consolidated Media said shareholders at a meeting on Wednesday voted 99.9% in favour of the takeover. Its board had backed the offer.

“Foxtel and Fox Sports are going to be two cornerstone assets in the News Corp publishing business after the demerger, and I assume the market will put fairly healthy multiples on those assets,” Citi analyst Justin Diddams told Reuters.

News Corp announced plans in June to split the $60bn (£37bn) media conglomerate into two publicly traded companies, publishing and entertainment. The split will take about a year to complete.

The publishing arm will include Australian newspaper The Australian, UK newspapers The Times and The Sun, The Wall St Journal, book publisher Harper Collins, and pay-TV assets including Fox Sports, Foxtel and Sky TV New Zealand.

Oct 31, 2012: The Australian Content Investment and Employment Survey results announced at Parliament House in Canberra reveal an investment of $667 million in Australian content by subscription television (STV) platforms and channels in 2011–12. The figures released by the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA) highlight an increase of 13% from financial year 2010–11. The Survey includes all STV genres of programming.

ASTRA also presented Deloitte Access Economics estimates which place the overall direct contribution made by STV to the Australian economy at $1.4 billion in 2011–12 and at least $7 billion overall since the start of STV in 1995.

In addition to the Survey results, ASTRA highlighted that STV is exporting an increasing amount of hours of Australian programming internationally. Programs like Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet, Grand Designs Australia, Camp Orange, Kings Cross ER, Killing Time, Australia’s Great Flood and many more are reaching viewers as far afield as Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Eastern Europe, Holland, South Africa, Spain, and throughout Asia.

http://www.content-technology.com/asiapacificnews/?p=3513

6 November 2012: NEW DELHI: India is rapidly swinging into digitisation mode. The government on Tuesday started the countdown for second phase of digitisation in 38 cities in 15 states, saying the deadline of 31 March 2013 was sacrosanct.

Information & Broadcasting Secretary Uday Kumar Varma held a high-level meeting to review the preparedness for Phase II encouraged by the successful implementation in Mumbai and Delhi. Digitisation in Kolkata is most likely to happen after Diwali and in Chennai, the fourth metro covered in the first phase, it will be decided by the Madras High Court on Friday.

The ministry has asked MSOs in the 38 cities to make a thorough assessment of the number of STBs required, taking into consideration credible data from the ground level. The MSOs have also been asked to provide information on their plans for procurement of STBs to ensure that the deadline of 31 March is met.

http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k12/nov/nov60.php

November 7, 2012: Bidding for the three-year right to broadcast English Premier League (EPL) soccer matches in Thailand will start tomorrow.

There are at least four bidders: major pay-TV operator TrueVisions, Cable Thai Holdings (CTH), GMM Grammy, and RS. It is speculated that Bangkok Broadcasting and TV (BBTV), the operator of Channel 7, will jointly bid with one of these. They all are in the silent period.

“This bidding round might take one or two weeks, but the final outcome will be known this month,” said a broadcasting-industry source.

The four main contenders qualified last month to bid for the broadcast rights. Among the qualifications are number of viewers, broadcasting technologies, and subscription base.

Given that the competition this time is expected to be fiercer than in the past, it is expected that the winning price could be as high as US$150 million (Bt4.6 billion) for the next three EPL seasons.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/At-least-four-in-bidding-for-rights-to-EPL-broadca-30193801.html

November 6, 2012, BEIJING: China’s Youku Tudou has secured a five-year deal with Sony Pictures Television that brings some 300 new titles to the premium online video platform, which already has agreements in place with studios such as Twentieth Century Fox, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. and more.

Three hundred titles from the Sony Pictures catalogue—including Groundhog Day, The Fisher King, Men in Black 3, The Amazing Spider-Man and 21 Jump Street—will be available for on-demand viewing. They will be part of the Youku Premium platform.

Youku Tudou, which combines two of China’s largest online video platforms, already has agreements in place with DreamWorks, Paramount, Disney, Lionsgate and others.

http://www.worldscreen.com/articles/display/2012-11-6-youku-tudou-sony-pictures-television